Not Necessarily Heartless
by rain-on-my-soul
Summary: AU Complete Here's a little Aerith and Cloud oneshot.  Aerith hires a detective to find Cloud after a promise they made as children nineteen years ago.  It's set in modern times on Radient Garden with some supernatural elements to it.  Enjoy!


**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. Well the copyright to it anyway. I do own the game, both Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories mangas, and Minnie Mouse Pez dispenser. I also own my two friends who rock at Kingdom Hearts and I don't so I watch them play, they just don't know it yet.**

**A/n: Okay lucky I wrote this story a while ago because it's 3 am and I need sleep. I'm just editing right now. This was actually a short story I wrote for my English class. I just went through really quickly and changed some things, like the names. Hope ya'll like it! I'm actually really proud of it. And I do know that Vincent is not in Kingdom Hearts but I thought he'd make a cool vampire detective. Plus I think he's good at finding Cloud.**

**Not Necessarily Heartless**

They were a sort of deep crystalline scarlet color, a color she usually did not care to associate herself with. His eyes gave her a firm decision though; she could tell that coming her had not been an enormous mistake like she usually tended to make. Eyes always held sway with her. She'd seen stories of death, destruction, sorrow, joy, and knowledge in pairs of violet, hazel, green, blue, and brown eyes. She'd see a handful of crimson and the occasional scarlet orbs staring back with malicious bloodlust. These scarlet ones were a unique pair to her, different from those before. They told of determination and experience; he would need those qualities for the task she hand brought him.

Aerith had riffled through every page of her Yellow Book she had had lying around her rundown apartment. She'd been to a number of offices and an impressive group of companies during the past few months. Not even those that were privately owned had been an iota of what she required. It appeared to her that a decent private investigator would be extremely trying to locate.

But an hour ago the young woman had entered the ancient complex and made her way up to its third floor. At her destination she was greeted with peeling black letters stamped on a door at the end of the hallway, letters that spelled out, "Vincent Valentine, P.I." It happened to be the one lucky name she had not ripped from her phone directory, having been obtained from another trusted source. Aerith and been informed that the man did not have a lengthy resume; her source made a joke about his number of cases being similar to the number of times Florida had to recount their votes in the last presidential election. Aerith had considered this tidbit of information when she had first checked out the investigator but then had noticed that the few cases were acknowledged as stunning successes. The man was good at his profession, maybe in the top five, and he was going to help her.

Having made up her mind as soon as a quick staring contest had told her of the emotions behind his gaze, Aerith told Vincent Valentine what she wanted. The P.I. did not give her any indication that he was paying attention throughout her entire narration, not a sound uttered. A few times Aerith had briefly wondered if he was even breathing, her ears could not pick up any inhales or exhales. During a pause to catch her own breath she spied him blink his scarlet eyes.

"It has to be done. It's as simple and clichéd as that. And, I've come to the abrupt conclusion, that you are the person who will get this job done. My mind's not completely sure why it will be you, but my heart has always been the one to hold more sway with me. That organ trusts you," Aerith finished for the P.I.

Surprisingly enough she did not have to wait even a scant amount of minutes for Vincent to answer her plea. He rose from his chair with an ethereal grace and folded his arms over his chest with elegant finesse, all only taking seconds without an ounce of clumsiness. Aerith was at first slightly surprised at the sudden movement but regained her composure promptly enough to notice his grace. She became enlightened as to what he was.

The scarlet eyes locked onto her cerulean ones and froze her in her place. Aerith's mind became a little clouded and she vaguely recalled feeling a moment of slight danger seconds ago. She waited for him to relinquish his hold on her mind.

"This could be a possible challenge for me. Contrary to the popular belief, it's actually quite difficult to find those of our own kind. There is some kind of mind barrier on each one of us. I never really paid attention to my old bat of a teacher and the mechanics of it all. Plus we like to keep a low profile. It would be a formidable case," he spoke in a handsome voice.

Vincent blinked, freeing Aerith from his hypnotic gaze. Then he unfurled his arms and placed his pale hands on his oak desk. Aerith's head instantly cleared, she flexed her fingers to test her mobility. Her shoulders relaxed when she found she could move again.

"I would have to charge a large fee because of the particulars of this case," he informed the woman across from him.

"I'm not worried," she replied evenly.

Vincent grinned, his smile full of sharp teeth and glistening white. He reached his arm out over his desk for Aerith to shake his hand in agreement. She took it, only allowing him a slight shake. Aerith loathed the icy chill of his hand.

"I'll get right on it," the P.I. laughed.

Aerith nodded in thanks. Then she wasted no time and exited the office. She quickly marched down the three floors; her cerulean eyes did not look back once. Vincent had taken the case from her. Aerith tried not to worry as she left the building of old apartments and the scarlet-eyed vampyre far behind her.

The building's ancient door slammed shut behind her back. Familiar sirens wailed off in the distance, a vague reminder of forgotten infants she'd once held. "God, I hate this town," she grumbled in a sigh. A piercing wind grappled with her long felt coat that had hit its time many years ago. She wanted to pull it closer around her shoulders and slender frame, become enveloped in its comforting warmth, but it would restrict her movement. Aerith brought her foot down on the sidewalk as she descended the last step, felt the slit on the back of her coat open, then unfurled her pink-feathered wings and catching an updraft, took to the sky.

When Aerith had first selected the dolphin alarm clock off the store's shelves she had believed the two would be great friends. Dolphins were cheerful creatures and alarm clocks got you to work on time. Aerith now knew that first assumption was false. As far as she was concerned any object that woke you up in the morning was the enemy. Aerith was not a morning person.

Shutting the machine off, Aerith sat up in her twin bed. A few yawns escaped her mouth before she could become fully alert. She avoided looking towards her window and its rays of sunshine it let in and walked out her bedroom door. The hallway's bare floorboards were icy on her feet; the bathroom tiles were no better. Aerith yawned one more time when she turned on the hot water. Shimming out of her pajamas, the young woman stepped into the shower. The spray caused her body to become one hundred percent awake.

Aerith's stomach informed her of its plight after her shower. So she carefully slid her wings through the slits in the back of her light blue cotton robe and headed into the apartment's miniature kitchen. She produced a box of cereal from the kitchen closet, a bowl from the cupboard, a spoon from the drawer, and milk from the fridge. Then Aerith sat down to eat her measly prepared breakfast, thus quieting her stomach.

Glancing at her watch as she washed her dishes, Aerith realized she needed to get to work soon. She quickly put the dishes in the sink to dry and put away the cereal and milk. Then she turned to make her way back to the bedroom. In her room she gingerly slipped out of her robe and into a pair of worn jeans with a steel blue t-shirt that had a large flower on the front of it. She reached under her bed to grab a pair of threadbare pink Converse sneakers. They were tied tight before she stood up again. And as Aerith exited she snatched her coat of its hook.

The apartment keys were on the table with the small lamp next to the door. Those were hastily grabbed and dropped into a coat pocket. Aerith then made sure her door was locked before venturing out into the outside hallway. The elevator was broken in the decrepit building so the caramel-haired woman ran down five flights of stairs. To cut down on time Aerith made a daring move out the emergency door.

Two blocks stood between her and the station. The sun hid behind some sparse clouds; she couldn't feel a single breeze. Aerith never flew to work anyway. It would be a pleasant walk.

A handful of co-workers greeted her when she entered the building. She gave them each one of her small smiles in return. Her computer waited for her at her desk; Aerith sat down after shedding her coat and folded her wings neatly between her shoulder blades.

Aerith's job wasn't a hard one. At the station, her and everyone around her worked at monitoring the weather. They made sure the world got a sufficient amount of rain, sunshine, sleet, and snow. During the spring and summer they tried to cut down on the number of tornados that went through trailer parks. Aerith herself was in charge of thunderstorms, a job she enjoyed. She loved creating a good storm with beautiful lightning and booming thunder. They weren't scheduled for a storm until next month.

Halfway through the workday Aerith found herself letting her mind wander. Her train of thought started on a track towards memories of her parents. Aerith had begun to miss them terribly the last couple of months.

Aerith still remembered the day her mortal father died. Mother may have been the real angel but father was the one who seemed most angelic, the most virtuous. Maybe that's what attracted Aerith's mother to him in the first place. He always helped those around him no matter what the circumstance. He aided people every chance he happened upon, always disregarding what they could possibly be and what actions they could have possibly committed. The man asked no questions except one. "Would you like some help?" Aerith wished he was an angel, she yearned for it so deeply, then he would not have died. Burning buildings did not kill angels, but they killed fathers.

Last January was when her mother had left. The white-winged angel had come to Radiant Garden when Aerith's father was in his twenties. Originally Aerith's mother was sent to become a sort of cupid for the people and creatures inhabiting the planet. She had never expected to find herself as one of the clients. Aerith's mother met Aerith's father and the two became a close set of best friends; then a day happened where they both realized they were enamored with the other. With their love they got married and had a daughter; Aerith's mother stayed on Earth to be with the two people she loved the most. Right up until the moment she got called back, even staying with Aerith after Aerith's father died, right up until a month before Aerith's twenty-third birthday.

Everyone clocked out near six at night and headed to their separate homes and lives. Aerith wearily trudged back to her apartment, maybe a cold sandwich for dinner. Her mind briefly flickered to the vampyre she had hired. She wondered if his success would come swiftly. Aerith had a lot riding on him completing the case.

After her short meal the fatigued woman dressed for bed. Her yawns came back full force when she bent over the table next to her bed to set her alarm. Aerith sat down gently on the white comforter lying on the bed. With a little struggling she managed to get her socks off. Yawning, she pulled back her comforter, as well as the green sheets beneath it, and crawled into bed.

First the days past, then the weeks. Each hour seemed increasingly painful and slow. Work was dull as usual for Aerith; creating storms was the only part of her job that held a spark of her attention. Everyday she waited for news from Vincent. She would not even care if it was for a simple check in. But Aerith figured he probably wasn't the type.

"How long is this going to take?" she wondered for probably the 18th and not the last time that day. Aerith decided, no matter what her mother had said those many years before, patience was not Aerith's virtue. She had to keep reminding herself that waiting a month or two after the original wait of nineteen years was not going to murder her, no matter how agonizing the hours ticking by seemed to be.

Aerith was halfway through a regular Wednesday at the station. Her eyes had begun to droop on her during a lunch meeting an hour ago. Time soon found her with her caramel locks shielding her face as she slept, head cradled in arms, at her desk. Fifteen minutes into REM sleep and she started to dream.

"_Welcome to Kindergarten!" Aerith read on the banner outside the classroom. She clenched her father's hand as he stood on her right and she clenched her mother's on the other side. Gingerly the trio entered Aerith's new kindergarten class. The young five year old was a little weary of meeting those that she would spend the rest of the year with. Her parents became her rock and guided her to the waiting teacher._

_Aerith's teacher wore a cheerful smile as he greeted his fresh students. He was a younger man, probably in his late twenties, and introduced himself as Mr. DiZ. He was also completely see-through. Aerith's kindergarten teacher had died in the sixteen hundreds._

_There was a lot of crying, plenty of loud sobs, and one young werewolf was screaming when the parents left their kids in the care of Mr. DiZ. He smiled at each child the whole first half of the morning while he taught. During story time he successfully gained some laughs from four children. Soon after he clapped his hands together and announced it was time for snack._

_Aerith had stayed quiet the whole morning after her parents had departed, leaving her without a steady rock. Now, during snack, she wanted someone to speak to her. A small pale boy walked up to her, as if hearing her inner thoughts. _

"_Would you like to play with me?" he asked with a smile. Aerith noticed his sharp canines that happened to be slightly longer then the rest of his white teeth._

"_Sure," she had timidly replied._

"_Okay! Let's go play over there!" He grabbed her petite hand in his and led her over to a small plastic house that was painted gaudy colors of green, pink, and yellow._

"_I'm Cloud. What's your name?"_

"_My name's Aerith."_

"_I like your wings. They're a very pretty color," Cloud complimented._

"_Thank you," Aerith whispered. Then she gave him a small smile of her own._

_The two young five year olds instantly became the best of friends that very morning. They held each other's hands for the rest of class, sharing secret smiles. Both of them did not want the morning to ever end; they never wanted to return home. So when it was finally time and parents started arriving, Cloud took Aerith behind the plastic house._

"_Let's be friends for eternity," he told her. "We should promise. When we grow up let's live together. Then we can get married. Let's promise."_

"_Okay," Aerith whispered with a blush dusting her cheeks. The two grabbed pinkies and swore. _

"_I promise," they said at the same time. Their pact became a binding contract of friendship and love. They were bonded to one another for eternity._

"_And…" Aerith added hesitantly, "and, I-I'll give you…my heart." Cloud smiled._

One of the tears that Aerith had been crying while she dreamt of a lost friend had made its way down her cheek and onto her hand. The tickling sensation caused the woman to awaken from her slumber. She blinked her eyes and stretched to loosen muscles, then sat up. A spared glance at her watch told her she had twenty-seven minutes before her workday was done. With nothing occupying her time, Aerith grabbed her coat and clocked out early.

The walk home gave her time to think about the dream, an old memory she could never bury. Her father, being mortal, had enrolled Aerith into a regular kindergarten instead of home schooling her like her mother wanted. Aerith, to this day, loved him that much more for not listening. She had found her best friend that first day after her parents had dropped her off. With her ghost teacher and best friend, Aerith had had the most wonderful year of her young existence. And Aerith had also made that fateful promise.

All of her ponderings in her head had distracted Aerith as her feet had lead her to her apartment building, even up the stairs. Brought back to reality, the pink-winged woman unlocked her front door and stepped inside.

Dinner was a small salad and bottled water. She ate it on her beaten up gray couch as she watched news on her ancient TV. Then she took care of the dishes from her meal. Aerith settled herself into bed shortly after and a quick shower.

An insistent sound slowly pulled Aerith from her dreamless sleep. In her drowsy state she was unable to recognize it or its source at first. The puzzle pieces in her mind were finally able to click together and Aerith realized it was someone tapping on her closed window.

A minute was able to pass as she untangled her slender legs from the sheets. The bedroom window was off on the far wall away from her bed. Making the long trek over she quickly snatched it open; cold air wove through the air around her. Silhouetted against the night sky, perched on the window's outside ledge, was Vincent. Aerith saw his white teeth gleam in the dark.

"What are you doing her at this Godforsaken hour?" she glanced at her dolphin clock. "It's four in the morning! Not everyone lives nocturnally."

"I've come to inform you that the case is solved," Vincent said. "I thought you would want to know right away."

"Yo-You've done it? You've really done it? That's so…amazing. Congratulations!" Aerith had grown a rather large grin after hearing the P.I.'s news. "D-did you find…him?"

"Yes," was his reply. Aerith let out a breath she hadn't even realized her lungs had held. "He'll be waiting for you to open your front door at eight this morning. I'd get some sleep." the vampyre grinned. Then Aerith blinked at her window that stared back, empty.

"You're check's in the mail!" the elated woman yelled into the indigo sky. "Thanks," Aerith whispered after.

It took vast amounts of begging and large quantities of will power in order to get Aerith's brain to shut down so she could finish sleeping. Her heart wasn't helpful as it fluttered in her chest as the excitement grew. She drifted off to sleep with a smile.

At exactly seven thirty Aerith was up. Immediately after waking she jumped into a hot shower. She took extra time and care on shampooing and conditioning her caramel hair. Trouble came to her when she had to decide on an outfit. Aerith scavenged through her entire wardrobe. Fifteen minutes escaped her before she arrived at a decision. She hastily ingested a toasted pop-tart and settled on her couch to wait.

By seven fifty she was a bundle of energized nerves. Heat had exploded into her chest and she could feel her blood swimming through each and every vein or blood vessel. Every beat of her heart throbbed, pounded in her ears. Aerith wanted to hold in her breath.

The doorbell startled Aerith and she looked up from the couch. Her cerulean eyes tried to pierce through the ancient wood. She felt as if some witch somewhere had spelled the time around Aerith to stop as Aerith inched her front door open. When it had swung the last few centimeters open, making a slight creaking noise, Aerith was able to receive a full view of what awaited her.

"Cloud," she breathed.

Then man before her grinned; Aerith was able to spot his glistening fangs. He was pale, just as pale as her memories reminded her. Aerith was a lot taller, now being twenty-three, and was at least six inches taller than Aerith's five feet and nine inches. His blonde hair was cut short and choppy. She loved it all.

As he stood in front of her eyes he wore a tight-fitting, navy, long-sleeved shirt and a pair of worn Levi's. Aerith found herself locked in his emerald gaze but could tell it was not his powers preying on her.

"Hello Aerith. It's been way too long," Cloud told her.

"Yes, it really has. Come on in," Aerith smiled and closed the door behind his entrance. The two remained standing in her little kitchen.

"God, I've missed you," he suddenly said.

"Me too," Aerith squeaked out.

"Nineteen years has felt like a wasted eternity without you."

"Yeah, I had to find you."

"The promise," Cloud whispered.

"The promise," Aerith agreed.

Cloud took her hand in his like he had done their first day as friends nineteen years earlier. Emerald met cerulean and they both smiled.

"I want to tell you, tell you what ate at me for our time apart. This has been awaiting the perfect moment to escape. Can you listen, my best friend?" Aerith gave him a nod, Cloud smiled back in gratitude. "Aerith, let's spend eternity together. I love you. My dead heart tells me this. It's the most compelling truth that I hold in the mixed up world. I. Love. You." Aerith smiled a smile filled to its corners with joy, a loving smile.

"I promised you it. My heritage allows me to give it to you. Half-angels don't need a heart to survive. The truth binds me to you. I love you too, Cloud."

Aerith's hand turned insubstantial, as well as her arm up until the elbow, and reached into her chest. Slowly she drew out a thumbing heart that glowed a pale pink, still beating even after it left her body. Then Aerith looked up at Cloud. She took her heart and pushed it into his chest. When she reached her arm out again it became solid once more.

"I promised to give you my heart and I did. It belongs to you…for eternity."

End.

**A/n: Really cheesy I know but at least it's original and not just "I love you forever," and "Me too." I think it's good. This story's kinda based off something that happened to me. I had a best friend in kindergarten who really did take me behind a plastic play house and we promised something. I can't quite recall the total particulars of the promise but it was either something about growing up and getting married together or being with each other forever. I wish I could remember because he was a great friend. Then he kissed me on the cheek. A real Kodak moment. Anyway I was thinking of him lately so I wrote this. Hope everyone liked it!**

**On the other side of the rain**

**Rain-on-my-soul**

**P.s. I still love ya Nick, wherever you are! Maybe we'll meet again! **


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